Rally For Life

﻿﻿Faithful rally to support legislation to protect child in womb from pain

By
CECILE PAGLIARULO, Reporter

TRENTON ﻿﻿Across the nation, as people of goodwill prepare to head to Washington, D.C. tomorrow for the 44th annual March for Life to protect life in the womb, Catholics here in New Jersey are rallying support to protect the unborn by urging state lawmakers to pass the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (A3452/S2026).

If passed, the act would ban abortions performed after 20 weeks of post-fertilization and require that babies born alive during abortions be given the same medical care as infants born prematurely. Mounting evidence by prominent physicians and scientific journals concludes that the child in the womb at the 20-week stage can feel pain.

Frank Tinari, a parishioner of Holy Family in Florham Park, along with his wife, Barbara, have been active in pro-life ministry. They have been trying to get the word out about the pending legislation. Tinari, professor emeritus at Seton Hall University in South Orange, publishes a monthly newsletter on life issues, which is sent to many parishes in the state and can also be found on the Diocesan website.

“We are building public consciousness about the act so people can support the bill,” he told The Beacon. “We need to let this be known to the public so we change the hearts and minds of the people. Babies feel pain in the womb. The public needs to get behind this legislation. A lot of ground work has already been done to let people know about it.”

N.J. Right to Life had planned a rally Jan. 23 to support the legislation at the State House here but due to the prediction of heavy rains from nor’easter, the rally was cancelled. The N.J. Right to Life plans on hosting future events to bring attention to the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. At the current time, there is no date set for state legislators to vote on the bills.

Seeing that the legislation is passes, is part of the 20-20 Project, a collaborative effort by N.J.pro-life groups. The organization is hosting many social media campaigns to raise awareness about the act. The 20-20 Project is encouraging people to use the hashtag #theyfeelpain on social media. The 20-20 Project and Lifenet NJ are also offering car magnets and stickers to spread the message.

According to a fact sheet on the N.J. Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, in addition to the substantial medical evidence that the child in the womb feels pain by 20 weeks, a child born prematurely at that age can survive and thrive with appropriate medical care and treatment. The U.S. is just one of seven countries that allows elective abortions after 20 weeks. The others are: China, North Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, Canada and the Netherlands. Since 2010, 14 states have enacted similar legislation to the New Jersey bill. This bill is modeled after H.R. 36, the Federal bill by the same name.

Early in December, Marie Tasy, executive director of N.J. Right to Life, spoke to lawmakers in Trenton about the bill as did physicians and legislators supporting it. “At 20 weeks post fertilization, a baby in the womb is 11 inches long and almost one pound and looks like a small newborn,” she said. “The baby has fully formed fingerprints and tiny little toenails and is able to do somersault and suck a thumb — and feel pain.”

To support the bill, N.J. pro-lifers can visit the N.J. Right to Life’s website, which directs visitors to contact their elected officials.